Romanian prosecutors suspect that the paintings stolen from Rotterdam's Kunsthal gallery in the biggest Netherlands art-theft in a decade were incinerated. A Romanian museum is analyzing the ashes in Olga Dogaru's stove; Dogaru is the mother of accused thief Radu Dogaru, and she claims that she dug up her son's buried loot and burned it to protect him -- including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and others.Read the rest

Oaida Raul, a teenager from Romania, launched a Lego Space Shuttle into the stratosphere by tethering it to a high-altitude balloon, along with a camera that shot gorgeous footage of the ascent. He had to go to Germany to launch the vehicle (to deke out Romania's strict launch rules), and pulled it off beautifully.

1600g Weather Ballon
Rocketmodel parachute - slowing things down on the descent
Spot GPS - for recovery
GoPro Hero - video camera
Kodak Zx1 - video camera which took shit images I couldn't even use
New Trent - external battery for the GoPro (broke down before leaving for Germany)
Handwarmers - keepin' it warm at -50 Celsius
40mm Sytrofoam - building the box
Fishingwire - attached the shuttle by 5 wires
LED Beacon - in case of night recovery
Balsa wood - made the camera arm from it to obtain that filming angle.
And of course: Lego Shuttle model 3367

A tip for New York Comic-Congoers: don't miss the Romanian booth for a look at some of the weirdest, coolest comics being made in the world today. See my piece in Forbes from a few years back on Romania's "otaci." Read the rest